My 4th will be spent as quietly as possible at home, away from the heat, and most definitely away from the fireworks.  I’ll probably watch the special from DC tomorrow night on PBS, and that’s as close to them as I’d care to get.  I know…some people think that makes me no fun.  But really, people are very careless with them and it scares me.  When I had a house here in Pensacola, people would be setting them off all around in the neighborhood.  I would stay inside then too, but the next day I would find them strewn all over my back yard.

I did love fireworks as a child.  My brother and I got the black cats, and I remember loving the sparklers, and the rockets too.  We would go to the ball park and watch the display with the whole town in the evening.  And that was always after a big celebration the town would’ve had, complete with a barbecue in the park put on by the Jaycees, and a bicycle race for the kids with contests for the best decorated bicycles.  They probably still do all of that there.

When we were living in DC we went one year to watch the fireworks live.  It was horrible, I thought.  The crowds were awful and people were setting fireworks off within the crowd.  I was glad to leave.

So I’m thankful to be independent, which to me, means free to NOT go anywhere tomorrow. :)